Maximising Good Hands

[baron_greenback]

I've been playing poker for a few years now, but generally I only play MTTs and SNGs. When it comes to ring games I'm a noob/donk.

Recently (after reading a lot of FTR threads) I've decided to try my hand at ring, and make a concious effort to improve my game. I'm charting my progress on PT, and after my 1st session (only 611 hands) I have stats of 19/13 (obv sample size is ridiculously small)

My problem is that I'm finding it very difficult to play 'good' hands. In tournaments, I find you can get a decent read on a player, and can also use the situation to maximise chips. At the very worst you go busto and lose your single buy-in. However, at ring, where post flop play is more important, I find it far more difficult to get action, and know where I stand.

I'd like advice on the following 3 hands, and how I could have played them differently:

Hand 1

GAME #538866273: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 28-Apr-2007 18:07:36
Table Archimedes
Seat 1: elbaroni ($23.65 in chips) DEALER
Seat 3: shelest ($25.88 in chips)
Seat 5: Avatrich ($19.00 in chips)
Seat 8: jsk51 ($9.20 in chips)
Seat 10: NooBles ($19.78 in chips)
shelest: Post SB $0.10
Avatrich: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to elbaroni [DK CK]
jsk51: Call $0.20
NooBles: Fold
elbaroni: Raise $0.80
shelest: Fold
Avatrich: Call $0.60
jsk51: Call $0.60
*** FLOP *** [C9 SK C5]
Avatrich: Check
jsk51: Check
elbaroni: Bet $1.20
Avatrich: Raise $3.00
jsk51: Fold
elbaroni: Raise $7.20
Avatrich: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $13.50 Rake $0.40
elbaroni: wins $13.50

Hand 2

GAME #538866045: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 28-Apr-2007 18:07:16
Table De Aar
Seat 1: shelest ($10.95 in chips) DEALER
Seat 3: elbaroni ($20.10 in chips)
Seat 6: funkyman44 ($13.30 in chips)
Seat 8: Klister ($37.85 in chips)
Seat 10: diesel82 ($24.10 in chips)
elbaroni: Post SB $0.10
funkyman44: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to elbaroni [SA HK]
Klister: Raise $0.80
diesel82: Fold
shelest: Fold
elbaroni: Raise $2.60
funkyman44: Fold
Klister: Call $1.90
*** FLOP *** [C7 SK DA]
elbaroni: Check
Klister: Check
*** TURN *** [HA]
elbaroni: Check
Klister: Bet $3.50
elbaroni: Call $3.50
*** RIVER *** [C8]
elbaroni: Bet $3.40
Klister: Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $15.40 Rake $0.60
elbaroni: wins $15.40

Hand 3

GAME #538855826: Texas Hold'em NL $0.10/$0.20 28-Apr-2007 17:52:48
Table De Aar
Seat 1: shelest ($12.70 in chips)
Seat 3: elbaroni ($30.35 in chips)
Seat 5: royalfrog ($3.05 in chips)
Seat 6: funkyman44 ($20.35 in chips)
Seat 8: Klister ($31.55 in chips)
Seat 10: diesel82 ($10.30 in chips) DEALER
shelest: Post SB $0.10
elbaroni: Post BB $0.20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to elbaroni [HQ SQ]
Dealt to diesel82 [D7 SA]
royalfrog: Fold
funkyman44: Fold
Klister: Raise $0.80
diesel82: Call $0.80
shelest: Fold
elbaroni: Raise $3.60
Klister: Fold
diesel82: Call $3.00
*** FLOP *** [D8 C8 DA]
elbaroni: Check
diesel82: Allin $6.50
elbaroni: Call $6.50
*** TURN *** [S7]
*** RIVER *** [S5]

[Jimmy Mac]

1) This is fine, I probably just call his flop raise - we still have two streets to get the rest in and hopefully he commits on the turn. Nothing wrong with 3 betting tho.

2) Just bet the flop.

3) Like it.. pot is too big to get away here IMO.

In general, I find its best to simply play your monster hands fast at this level. I only do it against stupidly aggressive opponents or when I have the deck crippled. The player pool is so loose passive, you're always better off betting and hoping they caught a piece.

[bode]

hand 1: this isnt bad. You could call and let him bet out into you again, but either way he has to have something to keep playing and in this case he just didnt have a good enough hand.

hand 2: dont get into a habit of slowplaying w/ top 2. Lead out the flop and check behind turn would be a better line here.

hand 3: i think you could find a fold here. People at this level that are calling a big 3-bet will have an Ace in there hand 90% of the time.

[baron_greenback]

hand 1: this isnt bad. You could call and let him bet out into you again, but either way he has to have something to keep playing and in this case he just didnt have a good enough hand.

hand 2: dont get into a habit of slowplaying w/ top 2. Lead out the flop and check behind turn would be a better line here.

hand 3: i think you could find a fold here. People at this level that are calling a big 3-bet will have an Ace in there hand 90% of the time.

Hand 1 - yeah I felt that was okay, but maybe would a call have been better? I thought he had a flush draw which he planned on marrying.

Hand 2 - This was the worst, as I felt totally lost. I'm in a strong position with top 2, but I've also re-raised pre-flop, so he has to assume I have something decent. How often does opponent fold to a c-bet, because I can't see much he can call with, whereas he can bluff/bet with QQ/JJ etc.

Hand 3 - My big problem with this was my call on the flop. If I'm calling an all-in, then why didn't I move all-in? My question here is in the long term, should I make the call or fold? Would it change if my hand was 10-10, or K-K?